Jewel -- 09/22/08

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, so I have not had a chance to get back to Jewel until last night.

Apparently, she's one of those drama queens when it comes to "firsts", but after that she's fine. I had her tied in the same spot, walked up with the saddle pad, put it on her back. No dancing, no rearing, no wild eyes. It was boring to her by now. Good! I gave her some praise, then let her eat dinner.


While she was eating, I put the pad back on, then put the saddle on. You can do anything with this mare when she's got her nose in the feed bucket! I didn't tighten the girth much, since I heard that she was a bucking bronc with the saddle on. The few times I've massaged her I've found a lump of what I believe is scar tissue under the off side girth area which could be causing some pain or discomfort when the girth is tight.


{Jewel had a bad accident way before I got her that nearly took off her right front leg. She was cut deep thru the chest to back behind the front leg, I'm just not sure how far. At this point I'm not even sure she'll ever be able to be ridden with a saddle, but time will tell. She's certainly sound in the pasture and on the lunge line.}


When she was done eating I took her for a walk with the saddle on. Her only concern was getting back to the hay. I stopped, tightened the girth up a notch, walked on a little more. Eventually, it was tight enough to keep the saddle on while doing ground work, but still not tight enough to hop on (not that I'm crazy enough to do that yet). Since she had been so good, I untacked, brushed her down, and let her go back to doing what horses do best... eating.

Hunter -- 09/20/08

Today was a day for many firsts for Hunter: he had really little kids around and on him, he got smacked for the first time ever, and he got ridden ,sort of, with a bridle.

My tiny nieces came over with mom and Veronica, the saddle broke niece. Hunter had no idea what to make of these squeaky dog-sized creatures. He snuffled and eyeballed them and then I assume he determined they were tiny humans. It is best described by the conversations. I leave it to the reader to figure out who is talking.

"We're going to ride the PONY!" "I love you Hunter. Give me a kiss." "Hunter's the best pony in the whole world." "I'll keep your pony treats for you because you don't have pockets." "Maybe Hunter has pockets." "Is that fence strong enough? Those other horses can get right through that and hurt the babies." "Hey look, pony treats all over the ground." "No no. Those aren't pony treats, that's pony poo." " I want to ride first." " Come around the front of the pony...no that's the back of the pony." " My poo isn't as big as Hunter's." "Can people eat pony treats?" " Oh no, is anyone eating pony treats right now?" "I'm going to pretend that this is our pet and I'm riding him. Only I have a helmet on and we're running." "Don't be mad. She doesn't have to hold a pretend helmet." " Hunter kissed me again. I ate his kiss so I could keep it." "You didn't eat any pony treats did you? DID YOU?" "I want a second ride." "Are you sure that fence is strong enough? It looks like some of those fence posts are going to fall over." "I have a boo boo and it's leaking." "That's not a boo boo. That's where you ate a popsicle and it dripped on you." "Look look grandma! I'm riding all by myself!" "Don't let go of Hunter's mane, even to wave to grandma." " I want to hold the pony's string and pull him." "Do ponies go to kindergarten?"

Oh, you think I am making this up? I assure you, I am not that clever.

Dear reader, I have never had children. I had great empathy for Hunter today, because this non-stop tiny person chatter was as alien to me as to him. We spent about a half hour leading the children about, me on one side holding on the kid of the moment and Veronica on the other. Hunter was unbelievably gentle and instinctively, perhaps, stopped anytime he was unclear as to what he should do. Welcome to your destiny, Hunter!

During this process, Hunter deliberately banged me hard with his head and got a swat to the offending part for his trouble. I don't like to do this, but you all have seen horses punish each other for rudeness. I was mild compared to what they do to each other. And no, there wasn't a kid on him at the time. He took it like a horse and was over it quickly.

VV decided she wanted to ride Hunter, too. So I put on a bridle over his halter and gave her a leg up. The bridle has no bit in it. I want to get Hunter's mouth conditioned by line driving with a bit before he gets ridden with one. Hunter had one lunge lesson so far, during which he was a bit goosey about the whip. I did not use it this lesson because VV was up bareback and I only wanted walking today and no worriedness about what I was doing with the whip. He had no trouble understanding clucking during the previous lesson, but whoa was a problem. The reverse happened today. I think it was because the kid-on-back element was making him unsure. We worked only on the off side again today. I kept a fairly short line and walked the circle so I could get to them if it was necessary. Sometimes I had to move in and touch his rump with my hand to get him going if clucking didn't work. Squeezing him with the legs meant nothing today. It will come with time, I am sure. VV would ask for a whoa, tightening the reins and relaxing them as soon as he stopped. She also kept him from turning his left eye toward me and kept his body perpendicular to the line using the reins. He did very well and never fought the bridle once. We stopped after 10 minutes or less, because I didn't want Hunter mentally taxed any more. Veronica got to ride Keisha ,after we put him to pasture, as a reward for her help with the little girls and little Hunter.

It was a marvelous day, although a bit bewildering for Hunter, filled with new exciting things. A lot like kindergarten. And Hunter is learning his ABC's very well.

-- Anastasia

Classy -- 09/16/08

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done a Classy post only because all I've been doing is lunging. Voice commands, transitions, boring stuff. I've mainly just been trying to get her into shape. We're headed over to Anastasia's for riding again on Sunday, and this time the guys are going so it will probably just be a 1-2 hour ride. As much as I would love to take Kita again, Classy needs the experience and exercise more. But this time I'll ride her, and attempt to control her "princess" moments.

Tonight I put the English saddle on her instead of the synthetic western that I usually put on the greenies. We worked mostly on trotting circles and figure eights, making the circles smaller and smaller, then going back out again in both directions to make her more flexible. At first she was irritated that Tabby hadn't come out to the pasture as usual to keep her company and paid no attention to my leg and seat aids. It was like riding a 2x4.

Then she finally figured out that no matter how many times she kicked out when I squeezed with my legs, or how far in the sky she pointed her nose, or how short and choppy her trot was, I was determined to make her work. After about 10 minutes of nonsense she grew tired of fighting it and began to relax. The head dropped into a nice frame, the trot slowed and the strides grew longer, and she reacted to my squeezing by moving forward into the bit. Hallelujah.

Five minutes later, I slowed her down and let her walk. Then untacked, groomed, and let her go back to stuffing her face with hay. Hopefully, she'll learn that the sooner she calms down and pays attention, the sooner I get off.

Jewel -- 09/16/08

I just don't know what to do with this mare. I've been nothing but kind and gentle with her and she remains distrusting and explosive. She's been lunging so well lately (I don't journal every night of lunging, cause how boring would that be) that tonight I thought I might try lunging her with a saddle. I was told she'd has the saddle on before, but had bucked like a bronco so no one ever got on her. Can't say that I blame them, I'm not sure I'm crazy enough to get on a bucking bronc either. But things have got to progress at some point, or this mare will never find a good riding home. And she's simply too young and healthy to sit around being a pasture ornament for the rest of her life.

I always try to take the approach of pretending nothing is out of the ordinary. Don't coddle. Don't move slow like there's something to be afraid of. Just act normal, like the horse has done this "new" thing 1,000 times already. This didn't work tonight when it came to walking up to Jewel with the saddle pad in my hand. I had her tied with a slipknot to a sturdy fence post where we haven't put up new fence yet, so there was nothing for her to get caught up in if she panicked. At 10' away the whites of her eyes started to show. At 7' she started tossing her head spraying spittle everywhere. At 4' she reared up and fell over backwards. Wow.

Once she stood up, I stepped away and gave her a few minutes to calm down. I put the saddle pad down and approached without it. Still that wild-eyed look of distrust, but she let me approach and I have her a pat and a head rub. Then walked away. Approached again. The whites of her eyes were now gone and she was starting to calm. One more approach without the saddle pad, then I picked it up again. But this time before approaching I tried the ancient and traditional Indian Saddle Blanket dance. About 15' away I started dancing around and tossing the pad up in the air, making much fuss and noise as I did. I completely circled around a few times and mostly she just looked at me like I was an idiot. Without stopping I started moving my circle closer and closer until I was about 5' away. She was dancing a bit, maybe in tune to my hiya hiya hoya hi Indian chant. By the way, it looks like it's going to rain. I may be on to something.

At that range I keyed down my blanket tossing and just moved it from hand to hand as I circled. I made an effort not to look her in the eye the whole time, as I did not want to be the predator. I just wanted to be some crazy human chanting for rain. I think I accomplished that. I kept my eyes to the ground (which was more of an effort to keep my klutzy self from tripping than anything else) and eventually made it to her head and stopped holding the pad up to her nose. She took a step back and snorted at me, then stepped towards me again and sniffed the pad. While she was still inhaling the pad smells I backed away and went back to my rain dance at about 10'. This time she was more curious than afraid and even risked life and limb to take her eyes off of me a few times. You never know, the crazy human could have launched a saddle pad attack at any time.

We did this four times. FOUR. But by the fourth time she was bored. She didn't even want to sniff the pad, so I just put it on her back. Simple as that. I gave her a pat and a treat, took the pad off, put it back on. Pat and a treat. Took it off, put it back on. Pat. Took it off, let her go back to eating hay. I'm sure tomorrow I'll only have to do the rain dance three times. Maybe by next week, I'll be rain dancing with the saddle. All I can say, is that I'm thankful none of the neighbors can see our place.

Hunter -- 09/15/08

Hunter got introduced to the lunge line and lunge whip today. I stroked him all over with the whip and he didn't care. Same with the line. I even threw it all over him and whooped and whirled and he could care less.

I knew tonight would be stressful from past experience with other greenies, so I spent a lot of time petting him everywhere and handling his legs and feet - which he is doing quite well now - so he would still think training is fun. Then we led on the off side to the work area. Previously, I have commented on Hunter's unwillingness to move at more than a mosey. Leading from the off side, I had the lead in my left hand and the whip trailing behind me from the right. When Hunter lagged or stopped, I tilted the whip so that it touched his hocks. He was very surprised and apparently thought someone was back there. No panic, but he sure caught up.

Whenever I start training on the lunge line, I always start out with the off side toward me. Horses tend to try to get their 'trained' eye - the left eye - toward you in unfamiliar situations so they can process the new info from the side they are most used to seeing you. Hunter was no exception.

He easily caught on to clicking/clucking at him. What DO you call that noise, anyway? But to keep moving and not eat grass, well, that required a touch - and I do mean barely a touch of the whip. The purpose of a lunge whip is to make your arms 'long' not to hit. For the first time since I met him, I saw the whites of his eyes. It was not raw panic, just a little spooking. I don't calm a horse when it spooks; that just teaches it that spooking will get it a reward. I don't punish, either; that just teaches it that training is horrible. I merely start over. We needed very few do-overs. Within 15 minutes he understood the rudiments of clicking/clucking, staying at the limits of the line without pulling or swinging the rear out, that walking is a desirable option at this point, whoa/stopping without turning toward me, voice ques, and that the lunge whip points toward the rear but won't necessarily touch.

Poor Hunter, I laugh at him almost every day. I hope he is interpreting it as something non-humiliating. He had the worst time figuring out where this touching was coming from. After he figured out it was me, it was like "hey, how did your arms get clear over here?". I stopped as soon as he was able to walk calmly on the lunge. On this lesson, I never do the near side the same day; too much radical newness for one day in my opinion. I will wait for the next time. I spent the next 15 minutes petting and scratching him in all his favorite spots so that he will still love training.

He is pretty smart. If he continues to learn at this rate, I'll bet this horse is broke by November.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/14/08

I thought I was going to take today off from training Hunter due to soreness/laziness from the 5 hour trail ride yesterday, but an opportunity presented itself.

Up my driveway, on a 4 wheeler, came a kid. Not just any kid, but a TRAINED kid. I had saddle broke my niece, Veronica, 2 years ago at age 10. Although her mother, my sister, had just sent her over with sutures, I conscripted VV for training. Before going on, I should explain that my sis is a very good nurse, and my prime source of medical treatment due to me working on the farm with very little sense of mortality. In the past 3 years that I have lived across the way from her, I have broken a toe, greenfractured a leg, broken a pinkie, severely sprained 2 ankles and a number of other fairly minor injuries. Having saved me from these perils as well as the latest - cutting the tip of my thumb nearly off with a meat slicer -she forsightedly sent over sutures in case I ever needed stitches. Anyway, she just loves blood and gore so I am making her happy periodically.

I ask Veronica how much she weighs now. "I'm a fatty," she replies, "I must weigh a hundred now." Hmmm... half my size...don't talk about fat to me you little stringbean, I think. She gets a leg boost up bareback on Hunter, who by now is standing quietly tied. I'm glad I have been pulling his mane and otherwise training him for this moment. I am also glad I make new riders learn bareback because this was old hat for her. Hunter was interested, but not startled. He wasn't sure if he should actually walk with her on his back, but we took it easy and he hesitatingly, then with more confidence, moved with her astride. We stopped after only about 3 minutes of this, because he is still growing.

Next it was 'swarming' training. VV listened soberly as I instructed her. "I want you to act as if you have never seen a real, live horse before. Start over there and come at us all excited-like making noise. Then a few feet out , stop and come in quietly like you are supposed to, and pet him. OK? Go." Suddenly this kid comes squealing "A pony! A pony!", windmilling her arms and flopping her legs about. Central casting could not have given us a better actress. I don't know who was more surprised - me or Hunter. I swear if I had been sitting down, he would have jumped in my lap. But he never bolted or was out of control. He clearly trusted me to save him from this dervish if saving was proved necessary. I did my best to act like it was no big deal, but I wanted to laugh hysterically. Where's the video at times like this? We did this a number more times, each time with VV getting closer, and Hunter still somewhat shocked at this bizarre behavior but not misbehaving. Finally, she was able to run straight to him. I had her do it just once more and this time , unbidden, she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his mane. She was smiling like an angel, and he calmly turned his head toward her with dreamy eyes. OK, maybe the dreamy part was wishful hopes for his future, but the rest of the tale is the way it actually happened. I couldn't have scripted it better.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/12/08

Turns out Hunter has had another trainer while I have been at work. Scott has been playing with him and draping himself over Hunter's back. He said that he boosted himself over so his weight was supported by the pony for a few moments. Said Hunter skittered a little, but was no problem. I wish I was able to do that, but I am too short. But I can teach him to do it with a mounting block! Kids will need that. I am just shamed that I am not much taller than a 10 year old.

- Anastasia